Taking out her phone to film a council meeting almost two years ago has led to
an “Orwellian nightmare”, according to a Carmarthenshire housewife who is
pitted against her local county council and its chief executive in a High
Court libel trial.

In June 2011 Jacqui Thompson was ejected from a meeting after she refused to
stop filming proceedings for her blog. She was arrested for breaching the
peace and taken away in handcuffs.

Mark James, the council’s chief executive, subsequently wrote a letter, sent
to 74 councillors and published on another blog, responding to criticism of
the council. In